okay. when you say things like that, it makes me think maybe you re hearing something. you re the memoli whisperer here, so you may have the right to be suspicious, hallie. i think the big thing we ll be watching for as we see the press briefing begin is whether the tenor from the podium today matches that pretty strong statement from the white house yesterday after senator manchin made that blockbuster statement that he is a no on the build back better plan. we understand the president himself signed off on it that we don t typically see from this white house. the president has said he doesn t want to engage in these personal critiques. he says, as often said, you can question somebody s judgment but you should never question their motives. this statement yesterday was pretty close to that, saying there was a breach of trust, in fact, between the president and the senator who met in person at the white house. just last week we learned there is the press secretary.
infrastructure bill if it comes up for a vote, and you also heard from republicans that they are not going to be there to fill in the gaps if the bill doesn t have democratic votes. we expected there could be 12 to 25 republican defections here, but, remember, republican leadership has been whipping against a bill and this is important to note, that mcconnell voted for in the senate, that other republicans voted to pass in the senate. so republicans aren t going to be there to make up the difference if there really are 60 progressives willing to bring this down. this is going to be a momentous moment. if either it doesn t come to the floor today, or it comes to the floor and it fails, but sources are telling us both at the white house and here at capitol hill that this isn t the end of biden s agenda. yes, it would be a major setback, but they are going to continue working. meanwhile, you have those progressives continuing to dig in, i talked to manchin yesterday after he put out that
least for the russia inquiry. number one, how can the fbi prove again to the american public that this investigation will continue without any bullying or any other interference from the president? and number two, does the fbi or the justice department need to issue some kind of formal limits or guidance on the president s interactions with the current acting and future fbi director, given everything that has gone down? joining me now, jim cavanaugh. he is of course an msnbc enforcement analyst, retired atf agent with a lot of experience, and as promised, back with us prosecutor joyce vance. jim, your view of the obstruction issue, and whether if at a certain point there is enough blunt public talk from this person linked to the inquiry whether some guidance or some rules have to be publicly set? well, they do, ari, absolutely. this is a blockbuster statement
given everything that has gone down? joining me now, jim cavanaugh. he is of course an msnbc enforcement analyst, retired atf agent with a lot of experience, and as promised, back with us prosecutor joyce vance. jim, your view of the obstruction issue, and whether if at a certain point there is enough blunt public talk from this person linked to the inquiry whether some guidance or some rules have to be publicly set? well, they do, ari, absolutely. this is a blockbuster statement by the president, in my view, given the federal statute on obstruction and interfering with any agency s official proceedings. joyce can elaborate on this. but she knows. and i know joyce. and we work together. and i would be in her office early in the morning arguing that we needed an aggressive investigation on this set of fax. look, you have the president saying he fired the director of the fbi for the only reason on earth that he could not fire the
he is of course an msnbc enforcement analyst, retired atf agent with a lot of experience, and as promised, back with us prosecutor joyce vance. jim, your view of the obstruction issue, and whether if at a certain point there is enough blunt public talk from this person linked to the inquiry whether some guidance or some rules have to be publicly set? well, they do, ari, absolutely. this is a blockbuster statement by the president, in my view, given the federal statute on obstruction and interfering with any agency s official proceeds. joyce can elaborate on this. but she knows. and i know joyce. and we work together. and i would be in her office early in the morning arguing that we needed an aggressive investigation on this set of fax. look, you have the president saying he fired the director of the fbi for the only reason on earth that he could not fire the director of the fbi. he could have had any other reason on earth, any reason.